Colombo Port Faces Customs Delays, Impacting Sri Lanka Economy

Colombo, Jan 30 (PTI) The port of Colombo has been experiencing months-long delays in customs clearance of import and export cargo, forcing Sri Lanka's joint trade chambers on Thursday to call for urgent action to bring normalcy.

“The manufacturing sector is struggling with materials delays and exporters are missing ships," a statement said.

They said shipments suffered long delays and caused serious risks to the island nation's economy.

“Further, exporters are facing potential delays with imported inputs, missed shipping opportunities, and increased processing costs, undermining their competitiveness in the global markets and foreign buyer confidence in Sri Lanka," the statement said.

It said ships were bypassing Colombo to more efficient neighbouring ports which could be a permanent shift resulting in lost container volumes.

Several hundreds of import containers are inside the Colombo port and more are queued for days awaiting entry to the port as Sri Lanka Customs inspects containers physically.